Candide
by Almaseti
Summary: Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's shared past has always been something of an enigma, even to their companions and each other. When something disastrous happens between them, Inuyasha may end up learning more than he ever wanted to know.
1. Rush of Blood

Candide

Rewrite time. Chapters one and two have been combined with quite a bit of editing; and a new chapter three won't take long in coming.

* * *

Nobody liked it when Kagome left. Inuyasha got grumpy and bored without her, and a grumpy and bored Inuyasha liked to inflict his grumpy-and-bored-ness on the people around him. Shippo was vocal about not liking not having Kagome there, and even more vocal on the subject of how Inuyasha acted without Kagome around to keep him in check. 

Sango could handle Inuyasha just fine, but waiting around with nothing to do but an occasional errand for Kaede and a lecherous monk to avoid was getting tedious. Especially when there were still shards to be collected and Naraku still at large. However, Sango was too polite and cared about Kagome too much to point out how much this delayed them.

Obscene language and childish taunts that could be heard clearly from across one particularly scenic field, followed by the clashing of metal and grunts of effort.

As for Miroku...well, Miroku had a Wind Tunnel in his right hand that got just a little bit bigger every day. He never said anything, but once in a while he'd glance at his cursed hand as Kagome started to leave, and there would just be this look in his eyes, and what could anyone expect him to feel about Kagome's back-and-forth trips anyway? Inuyasha was just the only one who actively objected, that was all.

Sesshoumaru blocked Tetsusaiga's incoming blade with Tokijinn, and dramatic bits of electricity dispersed as the two swords clashed.

Nonetheless, the shard-detecting reincarnated miko traveled back to her time for a few days every three or so weeks, and it was routine. So that morning, everyone had half-heartedly said their goodbyes as Kagome smiled, waved, and jumped down the Bone-Eater's Well. Everyone save for Inuyasha, whose preferred farewell was to shout obscenities from the safety of his tree.

Sesshoumaru pulled back and spun, catching Inuyasha across the shoulder as his balance was disrupted, then jumped back and with a derisive snort re-sheathed Tokijinn. Inuyasha looked livid.

Another somewhat less predictable but roughly monthly event was Sesshoumaru appearing to pick a fight with Inuyasha. The exact reasons varied, but the end result was pretty uniform. For as long as this had gone on neither brother had ever managed to actually kill the other, despite the pre-fight threats.

In fact, Sango began to suspect that the battles were never intended to be to the death. It seemed, at least to her, to be nothing more than a slightly odd type of sibling rivalry, a well-worn one where those involved could confidently beat the crap out of each other with every expectation that they would both live to do it again another day.

She suggested as much to Miroku and Shippo as they watched the two dog demons duke it out. Miroku raised an eyebrow quizzically.

"Well, it does kind of seem to go in circles with those two, doesn't it?"

Sesshoumaru's neon-green whip nicked Inuyasha across one ear, eliciting a curse from the hanyou. This seemed to amuse Sesshoumaru, in his controlled, muted way. Thus far, Sesshoumaru was winning.

"I suppose so," Miroku said skeptically "But they certainly don't seem to be holding anything back."

"I don't think they have to. They know each other's limits by now. As it is, they're almost perfectly matched, and they're very aware of it."

"You're not worthy of Chichiue's sword, hanyou." Sesshoumaru said in his typical slow, confident voice. He seemed to be relaxing into his victory, taking time to actually answer Inuyasha's taunts and insults.

"I don't know," Shippo said, watching, "I mean, Inuyasha chopped Sesshoumaru's arm off with Tetsusaiga. Inuyasha's a jerk, but he wouldn't do something like that to someone unless he really hated them."

Inuyasha smirked and swung the fang over his head to send it crashing down upon Tokijin once more. Sparks flew and the ground became to cave beneath their feet.

"Well," Miroku cut in, "I can't claim to understand the ways siblings relate, but Sesshoumaru seems to have adapted pretty well to his condition, and he's used it to his advantage several times. The first time I saw him, he'd taken a human arm so he could wield Tetsusaiga," Miroku paused for a moment, then shrugged, "It didn't actually work, but the injury doesn't slow him down, even when he fights without a replacement arm. He is a youkai, after all."

"You just keep spewing the same old bullshit." Inuyasha snarled.

"I dunno," Shippo contended, using one of Kagome's odd expressions, "I'm a youkai and _I_ think that's pretty bad. Besides, they can't get along for _anything_. Even when they have a common enemy, they fight over who gets to kill him!"

"Give up, before you humiliate us both." Sesshoumaru forced Tetsusaiga off with only a small degree of effort, sheathed Tokijin and proceeded to attack with his Poison Claw.

"He does the same thing when Kouga's around," Sango argued.

"That's just Inuyasha being an overbearing idiot because he's afraid of looking wimpy," Shippo said dismissively, "Besides, even when you compare how Kouga and Inuyasha act around each other and how Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha act around each other, Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha fight worse. And Kouga'snot his brother."

"The only one who's going to be embarrassed is you!" Inuyasha laughed, his eyes flashing with excitement. "All the demons in hell are going to point and laugh when I send you there!"

"Well, I know how Inuyasha is," Sango said, "but what kind of person could really want their own little brother dead?"

A shadow of a smile flitted over the pale youkai's face as he dodged Inuyasha's wild onslaught. "In hell, there is no place for a hanyou. Just as it is in the living world."

Inuyasha rammed Tetsusaiga through the space where Sesshoumaru had been a second ago, right into the base of a very large and very old tree. A quick tug confirmed that it was firmly lodged in place. "Shit," Inuyasha muttered, as he let go of it for the moment to stay out of the way of Sesshoumaru's incoming attack.

A gust of demonic wind threw Inuyasha across the clearing, away from the tree Tetsusaiga was impaled in and toward his human friends. "What the hell?!"

Kagura floated above the battle on her enlarged feather as she silently observed the fighters. Her fingers closed tightly around a small object, which she raised high in the air and hurled at Inuyasha. The hanyou, too surprised to move, brought an arm up to block, and Sango caught a glint of pinkish purple as whatever she had been holding flew through the air and embedded itself in Inuyasha's left forearm.

"Inuyasha! Are you okay?" Shippo called out. Inuyasha picked himself up and turned, and the sight of him stopped them cold. The whites of his eyes had turned red, a pair of ragged scar-like stripes traced his cheekbones, and his claws had elongated far beyond usefulness in anything but killing. Inuyasha, with his youkai blood and Naraku's tainted shikon shards now firmly in control, growled.

And as quickly and mysteriously as she had appeared, Kagura vanished.

"Easy, Inuyasha," Miroku said carefully, holding both hands up in the universally recognized 'I'm not trying to hurt you' gesture, "It's just us, Inuyasha. Are you alright?"

With a bloodthirsty snarl, Inuyasha leapt at Miroku, and came within an inch of ripping his throat out before Sango swung Hiraikotsu right into the youkai's solar plexus. Inuyasha was knocked back, and Miroku forgotten in favor of more interesting prey.

In a set of movements too fast for the monk to even consider interfering, Inuyasha channeled his youki through his claws and lashed out at Sango. Sango managed to shield herself with Hiraikotsu, but the force of the blow knocked her onto her back and propelled her across the ground, leaving a long groove about the width of her back in the dirt. Her right arm gave out on her as she tried to raise her body.

Inuyasha stalked toward Sango, the bright red and cornflower blue of his eyes and pale purple youkai stripes not nearly as terrifying as the small, sadistic smirk that showed off his newly-enhanced fangs. Miroku yelled her name and threw half a dozen ofuda at Inuyasha, but they were brushed off with barely a glance. Sango watched, and time seemed to slow down as Inuyasha stopped just in front of her and cracked his knuckles, then half-crouched in a position she recognized as that of an animal about to pounce. She braced herself for the worst.

Tokijinn hissed through the space Inuyasha had occupied a moment before. Sango gaped for half a second, but she had not survived as long as she had by being weak or slow to act. Inuyasha's attention had been diverted again, and whatever was going to happen now would not be paused for a broken arm. She levered herself up with some assistance from Miroku and surveyed the fight.

This time Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's positions were reversed, and Sesshoumaru wielded a heavy sword to fend off a more agile attacker. At a glance, Sesshoumaru seemed to be struggling, constantly being pushed back by his younger brother, but nothing came too close, and an experienced eye could see that Sesshoumaru was using much less energy in his blocks than Inuyasha did in his attacks. Still, the idea of tiring Inuyasha out with his youkai blood in control of his body and a handful of shikon shards to fuel him was laughable. Sesshoumaru was delaying Inuyasha, and nothing more.

Sango grimaced. She could feel her adrenaline rush fade without a murderous Inuyasha to spur her on, and the mess Inuyasha had made of her ribs and arm was felt explicitly. Miroku hooked an arm under her elbow for support. Fighting down a blush, Sango brushed him away with a muttered "thanks" and choose to lean on Kirara instead.

"If we can get Tetsusaiga," Miroku said, "maybe we can get him back to himself."

"I-it's still in that tree over there," Sango said. She glanced again at the two brothers. Sesshoumaru was still out-maneuvering him. Putting Sesshoumaru on the defensive would take a lot of power. Just how many shikon fragments had Naraku used? "We need the sword now. I don't think it's a good idea for this to go on."

Shippo, who had been silent and hidden behind Kirara's mane since Inuyasha transformed, squealed in horror and Sango spun around. Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha stood apart, relatively motionless. Inuyasha was stock-still; crouched in a cocky stance and prepared to attack again. Sesshoumaru wavered, holding a hand to the large gash on his face. Blood began to slowly ooze out from between his fingers.

Sango and the rest watched with horror as Inuyasha calmly walked over to Sesshoumaru and with sudden violence picked him up by the shoulder with one hand and stabbed him through the heart with the other. There was a very brief impression of a barrier breaking, but nobody noticed. At any moment Inuyasha was going to realize there were still people he hadn't killed, and Tetsusaiga was now their last chance to stop the berserker.

Inuyasha kicked the corpse a few times, and seemed to decide that Sesshoumaru was dead enough. He turned his attention to the humans.

"Inuyasha!" Miroku yelled as Inuyasha started to make his way over, "Don't move," He raised his cursed hand and held the other ready to release the binding, "I don't want to do this."

Inuyasha sneered, and broke into a sprint. He realized his mistake as soon as the monk's hand was uncovered. Hurricane-force winds sucked him towards the hole in Miroku's hand, and stopped suddenly when Inuyasha tried to turn and run.

Once a safe distance away, Inuyasha growled his annoyance. He tried again, darting towards Miroku, but the sucking winds attacked before he could begin to get close.

"Please," Miroku said, "I don't want to kill you."

Inuyasha glared at Miroku, his eyes promising a slow and painful death. Then he smiled in demonic satisfaction and turned toward Sango instead. The winds weren't fast or close enough to grab him this time. Sango brandished the chipped and rusted katana at the raging youkai. Inuyasha moved to disarm her, but froze when his hand touched the blade. The Seal on the blade flared to life, lighting up the empty eyes. Tetsusaiga quieted, and Inuyasha was himself once more.

Horrified comprehension masked his face as he pulled the sword out of Sango's shaking hands.

Inuyasha looked as if he was about to vomit as his entire body trembled. Slowly, he tore his right hand from the hilt of Tessaiga. Each finger pulled painfully from the mangled katana as he forced the arm away. His left hand still gripped the fang with white-knuckled strength.

Sango hesitantly put a supportive hand on his shoulder, though she looked nearly as shaken as the hanyou.

Inuyasha carefully sliced his left forearm open, and coaxed a handful of bloody purple shards out of his flesh and let them fall to the ground at their feet. After wiping his now hanyou hands on a pant leg, Inuyasha fell to his knees and retched.

* * *

Kagome found herself staring at the clock, counting the minutes until the end of classes and the freedom that came with it. She was not alone in this, since the transition back to school after a long break left many students too accustomed to vacation idyll.

"Five minutes," she muttered to herself, pen drumming a frantic-sounding rhythm on her desk, "then one more period to lunch, then just two periods left, and we're out."

"Kagome!" the boy just behind her hissed, "could you stop that?"

"Hm? Oh, sorry." The tapping stopped. Kagome tried to wrap her mind around the algebra problem on the blackboard, but an unconscious sideways glance told her she still had two minutes left. When did she get this impatient?

Finally, the bell rang. Ten seconds late, she noted with an inward grimace. She couldn't help feeling like they were doing this on purpose.

History wouldn't start for a few minutes, since the teacher had to come from the other side of the building, so she spent the extra time standing by the doorway, catching up on some of the school gossip she'd missed while she was away. Hojo, she'd learned, had turned down one of the school's more popular girls in a semi-public setting, and incidentally rumor had it he was gay. Poor guy.

The bell, alternately blessed and cursed by those forced to live by it, rang again, and everyone hurried into his or her seat just as the slightly harried history teacher arrived. Most of the period consisted of a long lecture about influential books and speeches throughout Japanese history, and once that was finished the teacher passed out a pile of stapled packets.

"These are the guidelines for your research project on eighteenth century Japanese literature and how it influencedor reflected on the political situation at the time. It is due exactly a month from now. You will work in pairs, and may use the remainder of the period to meet with your partner and divide up your workload," she announced.

Chairs scraped against the tiled floor as the students rushed to claim a favored friend or unusually good student for a partner and halted at the sounds of the teacher loudly clearing her throat.

"Partners are posted on the bulletin board by the door. They may not be switched or changed in any way except with my express permission." A disappointed moan arose from the class, which was promptly ignored.

On the way to the bulletin board, Kagome was interrupted by a girl with startling di-colored eyes.

"We're partners," she said, and the shock of the odd coloration gave way to familiarity. Kagome had been friends with her in sixth grade, though they had gradually lost contact over the course of time. Kagome hadn't even been aware they were in the same class.

"Risa-" there was a second of indecision; -chan might be too familiar an address after not talking for so long, "-san. How've you been?"

Evidently, this was not the response Risa had been hoping for. "I'm fine," she said, a little put out, "And you?"

"Pretty good," Kagome said, and to cover up her awkwardness, she added, "I like those contacts, by the way. I've never seen anyone wear either of those colors."

"Thanks," Risa said with a small smile, and opened her eyes a little wider, to show them off to their best advantage. Risa was a slight girl with thick close-cropped hair, and Kagome remembered her as being a little shy, a little clingy and not very talkative. She seemed to enjoy the compliment. "They do itch a little, though."

"Well, let's see what we have," Kagome said, rifling through the packet as she did. She let out an involuntary moan. This was going to require a _lot_ of research, and she certainly couldn't use the internet or spend an afternoon in the library while she had to spend most of her time gathering up the pieces of the Shikon no Tama. And the mere thought of carrying around even more books on her trips back to the Sengoku made her back ache. Kagome shook her head. This was not her day.

Risa tilted her head quizzically at Kagome. "It's not _that_ bad. I bet we could get most of the research done this weekend, and the report itself is only seven pages. I could write the whole thing, to keep it simple, and then all that leaves is the oral report and the poster."

_Only_ seven pages? Kagome winced inwardly. Risa was probably used to doing all the work in partner projects, seeing as she offered to so easily, and it wasn't like Kagome really had time to do all that work while she was away fighting youkai. But that was rationalizing. It wasn't fair to take advantage of Risa like that. Even if it would help her out tremendously.

"We could meet at the school library on Saturday," Risa continued, "And then I'll..."

Kagome gave her an embarrassed smile. "I'm not sure I'll be around as long as Saturday. I might have to go somewhere, and... well..." she shrugged, "Stuff happens. I should be around next Saturday." _And I will_, she thought.

Risa gave Kagome an odd look, and her mismatched eyes didn't make it any less odd. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but it's kind of been bothering me..."

"What?"

"How come, even though you're always out with all those diseases for so long, you never seem frail or anything?"

"Ah... Well..." Kagome stuttered, "It's complicated."

Risa cocked her head in consideration. "It just seems weird. I mean, how could you possibly get Ebola and not have the entire city quarantined for months? And I've never heard of a fifteen year old having arthritis, either."

"Uhh... you see it's..." Kagome searched frantically for an explanation, "My Grandpa gets a little confused. He says it's stuff like Ebola but it's really just my... uh..."

Risa shook her head. "You don't have to tell me. It's none of my business, anyway. People just say funny things."

"Funny things? What do you mean, 'funny things'?"

Risa flinched a little at Kagome's outburst. "Ah..." she started, "It's hardly anything, really. Forget I mentioned it."

Kagome gave her a look, the kind of 'don't even try that' look she'd perfected after spending so much time around a hyperactive kitsune and a domineering hanyou. Risa relented.

"They say you have an older boyfriend who's really possessive and maybe abusive, so much that he doesn't even like you going to school. Supposedly, this guy is the reason you're never in school except for tests, and," Risa scanned the room nervously, as though she thought she was being spied on, and in a low conspiratorial whisper added, "once someone said you were pregnant with his kid, and your family was making excuses because they were ashamed."

Kagome was torn between wanting to scream Inuyasha-esque obscenities out loud and complete shock. "Why... they..." she stammered, then collected herself. "Who said?"

"No one really believes that kind of junk," Risa said in her placating way, "People just like to say it, that's all. It's probably nothing to worry about."

"Who said that I was pregnant?"

Risa looked away, then mumbled, "Ruri Hino. And Megumi Mizuno. And Yahiko Aino. And... well, a lot of people have been saying stuff." She blushed, as though this was somehow her fault.

Kagome groaned. "Oh _crap_," was all she could say.

"They're just being dumb, Kagome-san. If it helps, I don't believe there is any 'Inuyasha' at all."

Kagome stared. There were only three people she'd ever said _that_ name to, and she thought she could trust them not to blab to everyone in the school. "Thanks, Risa-chan," she said, clenching her fists so hard her knuckles turned white, "I'm sure you're right. It's just stupid shallow stuff anyway. If you could excuse me for just a minute..."

Kagome stood up, walked over to where the unlucky Eri, being the closest, was sitting, and pulled up a chair next to her and her partner.

"Eri-chan, could I talk to you for a second?"

Eri looked up. "Can it wait for after class? I'm kind of in the middle of this, you know."

The bell, as singularly dominating as it always was, rang just then.

"Oh look. It's time for lunch," Kagome said icily, "Let's go find Ayumi-chan and Yuka-chan, and we can go discuss_ how you didn't tell me that everyone in the school thought I was pregnant_."

"I... wh..." Eri composed herself, "I don't know what you mean. Nobody said anything like that to me, at least."

"Bullshit! You're one of the biggest gossips in the school. There's no way you could _not_ know about a rumor like that!" Inuyasha, she would reflect later, was starting to rub off on her.

By this time the other two had stopped waiting outside the doorway and were exchanging nervous glances just inside the threshold. Kagome shot them both dirty looks. "And _you_ had better get over here too, or else I really won't be held responsible for my actions."

"Okay, okay," Eri said, shrinking a little under Kagome's glare, "I just didn't want to worry you, since you were so sick and all. I didn't think you'd find out about it at all, and it would be better to just let somethingstupid like that blow over. That's all Kagome-chan, really."

"Yeah," Ayumi added, "And we're missing lunch. We should probably head down to the courtyard before all the good seats get taken."

Kagome ignored her. "Oh. Okay," she said, still giving Eri the death-glare, but spreading it around a little, "Then why were they also talking about Inuyasha? I _know_ I didn't tell anyone who isn't standing here right now about him, so how, exactly, did the rest of the school learn?"

All three of them suddenly found the floor, the ceiling or the "inspirational" wall posters very intriguing.

"Well?"

None of them said anything. "I can't believe you. I really can't. I'm so... so _disgusted_ I can't even look at you any more. I'll just..." she sighed in irritation and collapsed onto one of the chairs, and slumped over the adjacent desk. Ayumi, Eri and Yuka stood there awkwardly for a little while, half expecting her to start crying or something. Kagome sat there. They left.

Kagome sat up, then stood up. She gathered her things together and walked out the door, only to be greeted by Risa, looking a little embarrassed for watching and asking her if she was okay.

At that moment, Kagome heard another all-too-familiar voice calling her name. Inuyasha could be heard dashing up the hallway, and Kagome was all set to give him a long and thorough reaming for bursting in on her during school when she saw him. Inuyasha's haori was torn and bloody, and the hair on left side of his head was soaked with blood, which was probably related to how he was missing a chunk of his ear. He looked desperate, scared and horrified.

He stopped in front of her. "We have to go. Now."

"Inuyasha what... where did you..."

"Please Kagome," he said, "You have to come. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't important."

"I... ah... okay. I'll go, but I..." Inuyasha's eyes pled. "Okay, I'm coming. Risa, I'm sorry but..." Inuyasha grabbed her by the forearm and pulled her away before she could finish, and looking back Kagome could see Risa's mouth hanging open.

_Oh my god_, her eyes said, _He's real_.

* * *

"Inuyasha! What's wrong? We're here already. You can let me go now," Kagome said as Inuyasha pulled her through the village, narrowly missing a red and white blur that was probably Kaede.

"What's the big..." Kagome stopped when she felt a strong shikon no tama presence from one of the nearby fields, "There's a shikon shard? Inuyasha. Is this what the big..." Inuyasha tugged her forward a little harder before she could finish.

"If you don't slow down," Kagome admonished as they got closer to the source, "You're going to dislocate my shoulder."

"Sorry," Inuyasha said and get go of her arm. Kagome did a double-take. _There must really be something wrong_, she thought, _if Inuyasha's acting like this_.

"It's okay, just _tell me what is going on here_," Kagome said, walking toward where the shikon shards, because now that she was closer she could tell there were several, lay on the ground. Inuyasha looked at the ground.

Miroku walked over from where he had been putting a white sheet over something on the ground. She crouched down and picked up the shards, dispelling the dark sheen automatically.

"What happened here?" Kagome asked the monk, a little frustration bleeding into her voice. Miroku sighed and started to talk.

"Sesshoumaru came here about half an hour ago. He fought with Inuyasha, and at one point Inuyasha got Tetsusaiga stuck in a tree. I guess Kagura was waiting for something like that, because when he let go of it, she separated him from Tetsusaiga and drove those," he motioned to the shards in her hand, "Into him. Inuyasha lost it, and attacked us, and nearly killed Sango. She's okay," Miroku added quickly, "Just back with Kaede getting treated. Sesshoumaru intervened, but..."

Kagome looked towards where Miroku gestured. A large white sheet covered a human-shaped figure. Blood soaked through the sheet at the head and around the heart. "Oh my god... Inuyasha..."

The one so named finally looked up at her, and she couldn't begin to describe the expression on his face. If it were possible, it seemed like he wanted to crawl beneath the sheet and join the taiyoukai. A heartbeat later, he was almost gone, running towards the forest and away from the scene.

"We got him to hold Tetsusaiga after that," Miroku continued after a pause, "and he's been like that ever since.

Kagome stood there for a moment, looking pensive. "Is it possible," She said slowly, "That Inuyasha could use Tenseiga to bring him back? Sesshoumaru managed to transform Tetsusaiga once, so it could work the other way around."

Miroku shook his head. "Look at this."

He walked over to the body. Gently lifting one side of the sheet away to expose Sesshoumaru's hip and the two swords he wore there, Miroku grasped Tenseiga and carefully pulled it out of its sheath. There was one long, precise lengthwise crack down the center of the sword.

* * *

Reviewer responses to the original postings of chapters one and two (by Alma):

**Izayoi-hime**: As for your point on Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha's relative power levels, did you notice the parts where it said that Inuyasha had several fragments of the Shikon no Tama in his arm? While I realize we never used those exact words, what did you think the "glint of pink-purple" Kagura threw at Inuyasha or "bloody purple shards" he tore open his arm to remove were? I hope I don't have to explain to you that having pieces of the Shikon in their body makes a human or demon much stronger, because that's the driving force behing a heck of a lot of what happens in _Inuyasha_. I'd like you to go back and read it again, and if it still doesn't make sense, let us know.

As for the Tenseiga one: we're choosing to believe that the way Tenseiga protects Sesshoumaru is by transporting him well away from whatever it was that was going to kill him, and that feature was mostly intended to protect him from Tetsusaiga, since as you yourself pointed out Sesshoumaru is pretty dang strong on his own. Thus, Inuyasha grabbing him by the shoulder and stabbing him through the heart prevented Tenseiga from transporting Sesshoumaru out of danger and saving his life. This is all judging by the episode where Inuyasha figures out how to use the Wind Scar, since neither of us have seen any other episode where Tenseiga does that.

In regards to Shippo's comment, I'll admit that wasn't quite right, and most of that conversation was going to be revised anyway, so that comment is going to be rephrased.

Spelling of Toukijin/Tokijin: "Tokijin" is how it's spelled in the dub, which Misty and myself watch because neither one of us has money to burn on subtitled DVDs or scores of manga. Besides, it's all translated from Japanese characters anyway, so how it's romanized is pretty much random. (Misty says you've obviously never taken any Japanese in your life, (she's taking it now) so shut up and stop your bitching.)

By the way, are you aware that you referred to Inuyasha as "her"? Seeing as you are so picky about canon, I was wondering if maybe you knew something we didn't.

**Transcendent**: Yes, I promised, and I will when I have time, okay? Not that I really expect to have time to participate much, seeing as the huge evil monstrosity of college admissions is looming like... well, like a big thing that looms. Thanks for pointing out the grammar junk, I don't know how that passed by both of the spell/grammar check and the two of us, but it's gone now. You were only confused about Kagome because you don't watch the show: she goes back and forth from her time and Inuyasha's all the time ("It was routine...", ect.) and usually brings back things like ramen and potato chips and so on. Inuyasha definitely fights better when she's around (he first made Tetsusaiga transform after saying he'd protect her) so it was kind of important.

You should become a hardcore fangirl. It's fun. And it's not our baby in the sense that we're both neurotically hyper-protective of it, but it is a thing that takes a lot of work to bring to its full potential that came into being because we were fooling around a while back.

**rachael**: It _did_ say corpse, meaning dead body, so he's definitely dead. Sorry 'bout that. Not to say too much, but you might want to stick with it anyway, since Inuyasha characters are funny about death.

**Niamh really DID rant** : Tell you what: You can call me "Alma" forever if the next chapter of _Misery_ comes out by Friday.

It's too bad you're not familiar with the characters, because in my opinion _Inuyasha_ is one of the most kickass anime series in existence. Not much I can do about it, though, unless you want to find a site with spoilers, but those are kind of dumb. The thing about Kagome going away I explained in Vee's response, so I won't repeat myself.

The way we do this is, in theory, that we alternate writing the rough draft of it and the other one acts as a hyper-beta-reader, but I did the roughs for most of this, so my voice is more dominant here, and I'm the one doing reviewer responses. Don't worry, Misty contributes a little more in the next one.

**FairDrea**: Thanks for the encouragement! But I have to point out: Misty co-wrote it, so she reserves some credit too, even if she is being lazy on the rough drafts. Maybe you can help me harass her when chapter three is being written. And I don't actually mind it that much if someone points out what they think is a problem with one of my stories. It either means I did something wrong, I didn't make something clear, or I got a review from a moron I can make fun of.

**Kakuri**: Thanks for the complements.

Insert obligatory request for reviews/attention here.


	2. Stop Asking Stupid Questions

Rewrite of chapter three, since me and Misty both decided the first version was kinda wimpy. This includes the full Dead Sesshy scene.

* * *

It was not often that the Lord of the Western Lands was caught off guard. Moments of weakness were something he'd fought against for centuries. It was fitting then, he supposed, that one such moment would be lead to his death. And at the hands of his half-brother, no less. Of course, it was not as though the wind demon hadn't had a hand in it as well. He thought vaguely of how he might repay her in the afterlife.

Sesshoumaru greeted limbo with his usual look of idle indifference. He stood calmly surveying the small garden, waiting for the gods to choose his path. A soft breeze blew through his hair, sending ripples in the pond just to his left. It was strange that They would take so long to place him. After all, a lifetime of hatred and bloodshed was not heavenly material.

The breeze passed over him once more, carrying a familiar scent. He turned, a brief flicker of recognition crossing his pale features.

"Sesshoumaru."

He regarded the tall imposing figure with a steady gaze. Gold eyes betrayed nothing in emotions, but it was clear by the pause that the taiyoukai was composing himself.

"Chichiue."

"I'm here as your judge."

Silence.

"Have you nothing to say for yourself? Have you no regrets?"

"My only regret is not killing the hanyou."

The great lord's eyes softened slightly in pity. "It is pitiful that even in death you are filled with hatred, Sesshoumaru."

Sesshoumaru's eyes remained fixed on the calm pond. "I do not fear an eternity in hell."

"Tenseiga was forged for a reason, and you inheriting it was no mistake."

"The sword proved useful on several occasions. It was an honorable blade."

Palpable anger flared up around the elder Inuyoukai. "The way you lived your life has tarnished that honorable blade!"

"Would you have been pleased if I had spent my days reviving worthless lives?"

"It would have pleased me if you had shown an ounce of compassion towards those around you. You hated your own brother, and that is why you are standing here with me now."

Sesshoumaru's eyes shifted lazily from the pond to his father's face. "I owe Inuyasha nothing. And I owe humans even less."

Something akin to amusement crinkled the golden eyes of the Inu No taishou. "Then you won't miss the little girl you saved? You won't wonder what will become of her now that she is alone and defenseless while you slave away in the fiery pits of hell, will you?"

Sesshoumaru's eyes moved back to the pond. "Her future is not my concern."

"Then what is your concern? The pursuit of strength and power? Sesshoumaru, you wasted your life, and let every opportunity for redemption pass you by. It should irk you to know that even a half-breed like Inuyasha has defeated you at something as trivial as compassion. Do not blame him for your death. In the end, it will always be your indifference that destroys you."

Something seethed deep inside Sesshoumaru. It did irk him. Not that he thought kindness worthwhile, but that his father thought it so. To be seen as Inuyasha's inferior in anything was unacceptable. Empathy had nothing to do with strength.

"Inuyasha does not have honor or compassion. He has claws and sword he doesn't deserve."

"The thing Inuyasha didn't deserve was your hatred. You wasted your life. You spent it all hating your brother, hating yourself and hating everything around you. You loathed him for something he couldn't control, you made yourself miserable with jealousy and prejudice, even before I died. What did you gain? You'll never find peace; you'll never stop making yourself miserable." There was a fearful finality to that statement, firm but full of regret. "I pity you, son."

And that was the last thing Sesshoumaru understood before the world around him blurred and became strange.

* * *

"Inuyasha!"

No response.

"Inuyasha!"

Still nothing.

"Inuyasha, if you don't tell me where you are right now, I'm going to say the word and follow the sound of your head slamming into the ground until I find you."

Inuyasha cursed under his breath. "I'm over here," he shouted from his tree branch, "Happy now?"

"Almost. Come down here."

"Make me!" He didn't look as bad as he had before, but that wasn't saying much.

"Inuyasha..."

"Leave me alone."

"No. You're the one who dragged me here in the first place."

"You can go back now, okay?"

"At least let me bandage up your injuries. You're still..."

"I'm **_FINE, _**damn it," Inuyasha practically snarled.

"No you're not."

"Yes, I am. My demon blood already healed all of it."

"I just want to talk to you, Inuyasha."

"Leave me alone."

"You're impossible, you know that? Sit."

Inuyasha came crashing down at her command. "Bitch," he yelled, "What the hell did you do that for?"

"Inuyasha, will you just calm down and talk to me?" Kagome said, walking over to where Inuyasha sat and joining him.

Inuyasha looked away.

"Well?"

"Fine, what do you want to talk about?"

"Inuyasha, what if there was a way to bring Sesshoumaru back?"

Inuyasha refused to face her, tucking his hands into his long sleeves and folding his arms tightly to himself.

Kagome eyed his defensive posture warily before speaking. "Well?"

"Bring him back?" Inuyasha repeated after a pause, "That's impossible. Even if I knew how to use it, Tenseiga's broken."

"Miroku and I talked it over, and we came up with this: Totosai fixed Tetsusaiga. He can probably fix Tenseiga too, and tell you how it works. Then you can bring Sesshoumaru back, he can go off to wherever it is he goes when he's not picking a fight. How does that sound?" Kagome smiled tremulously, trying to keep her tone light.

Inuyasha contemplated the ground in silence.

"Inuyasha, do you... _want_ to bring him back? I know you two never got along, but do you really want him dead?"

Inuyasha mumbled something too quietly for her to make out.

"Inuyasha?"

"He stopped me from killing Sango. If he hadn't attacked me when he did, she'd be dead now. I don't know why he did it. He probably just thought it was the best chance he had to kill me, but I owe him something for that, because I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I killed someone else I cared about." The speech poured out of Inuyasha's mouth after the first words like water out of a jug, and dried up. His voice lowered at the end so that she could barely hear him.

Kagome's eyes softened. Inuyasha rarely, if ever, talked bluntly about how he felt, and while nothing he said came as a real surprise, hearing him admit it was something. "Inuyasha..." She very carefully reached out to rest her hand on his elbow.

He shrugged her off and turned his head, and she knew his moment of weakness was gone. "That's all there is to it, okay? I don't care about Sesshoumaru. I don't have any reason to care about him, except what I owe him."

Kagome winced inwardly. Whenever she thought she was getting somewhere with him, he retreated back into rudeness and irritability. It was frustrating, to say the least. "So what do you want to do? Leave him like that?"

"I don't know, damnit," Inuyasha spat impatiently, "What do you think?"

Kagome closed her eyes and took a breath. "He's _your_ brother. It's not my place to say," she said tiredly. She didn't want to fight with him.

Inuyasha scowled. "Why the hell should I go through all that trouble for _him_? That bastard."

Kagome recognized his exaggerated glower for what it was. He didn't want to admit he cared, and he didn't want to look like a wimp. It amazed her how much he resembled a two-year-old sometimes. She wasn't going to get anywhere with him if she didn't try something drastic.

She pulled herself to her feet, dusted the dirt off her uniform, and turned to leave. She threw one last glance at him over her shoulder. "It's not like we needed him anyway, is it?"

His eyebrows rose up into his silvery bangs briefly, but he quickly recovered, closing his eyes and looking away with his lips pursed in his petulant manner.

"It's not like he didn't hate Naraku almost as much as you do."

The golden eyes were open and glaring now, but he didn't respond.

"It's not like he was a taiyoukai with two extremely powerful swords."

Inuyasha cocked his head at her like a puppy, still glaring, and Kagome tried not to let her amusement show. A mild "keh" slipped through Inuyasha's frowning lips. "We don't need his help. I can kick Naraku's ass on my own."

Kagome almost growled. She had _definitely_ been spending too much time around Inuyasha. How else could she mess with that pointy-eared head of his?

"Come on, Inuyasha. Do you want to let Naraku win?"

Inuyasha sputtered. What the hell are you talking about?"

"If you don't revive Sesshoumaru, you'll just be losing to another one of his sick games."

Inuyasha's expression darkened. "Naraku," He ground out. She knew his mind would be lost to painful memories if she didn't keep him focused on the problem at hand.

"Don't give him the satisfaction, Inuyasha," Kagome said softly.

Inspiration struck the hanyou. He sprang to his feet and turned on Kagome with wild eyes. "We have to revive Sesshoumaru!"

Kagome fought the urge to fall over.

"When I kill my bastard brother, I want to do it myself!" he said vehemently, "And I'm sure as hell not going to let Naraku take any of the credit!"

Kagome fought a similar urge to whack him over the head and sighed.

"Heh," Inuyasha said to himself, "We'd better go find Totosai, then. Come on."

With that, he grabbed Kagome by the wrist and started dragging her away. It wasn't until they were almost out of the woods that Kagome realized that Inuyasha was dragging her _away_ from Kaede's village and their friends.

"Inuyasha!" she yelled, "What the heck do you think you're doing?"

"We're going to find Totosai," Inuyasha said, as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Inuyasha, you idiot! We can't go yet!"

"Why the hell not?"

"For one thing, we don't have Tenseiga!"

"Oh."

Kagome shook her head. "How about we go back to get supplies, Tenseiga and my bike? We can leave tomorrow morning, since it's getting late anyway."

Inuyasha made a soft annoyed sound.

Kagome rolled her eyes. "What? We can't travel in the middle of the night! Just come back, and we'll get going early tomorrow."

The hanyou sighed, and looked away. "Fine," he said moodily, "But we're leaving at dawn tomorrow."

Kagome bit back a sarcastic retort. Inuyasha had been pained and upset a few hours ago; so much so that he'd dragged her away from school, something that would normally earn him a score of "sit" commands. Whether or not he'd deliberately waited for her to be exiting the classroom when the halls were relatively empty she couldn't say, but the fact that he had dragged her out of school spoke volumes. He probably wouldn't be able to give her a good reason for her coming with him if she asked, but she wasn't planning on asking.

"Fine, Inuyasha," she said resignedly, "have it your way."

Inuyasha held her to her word the next morning, following her home (so she wouldn't forget or take too long, he said) and waking her up well before the sun actually rose (because they had to get _ready_, he said) and very nearly getting them out of the village without saying goodbye to anyone.

* * *

Kagome insisted on that, though. So Inuyasha had stood away on the outskirts of the village, watching as Kagome said the goodbyes for both of them.

"Rin is worried."

"Eh?" the wrinkled toad demon looked up from the pile of wood he was valiantly trying to coax into a fire, "Don't distract me, girl, you're the one who said she was hungry!"

Rin sighed, stood up, walked around a bit, spun on one heel until she fell down, and sighed.

"Jaken-sama, why isn't Sesshoumaru-sama back yet?"

Jaken glared at her and said nothing.

Rin sighed. "Jaken-sama..."

"What?!"

"Where did Sesshoumaru-sama go?"

"Stop asking stupid questions," Jaken snapped, clearly annoyed with the would-be fire.

"Jaken-sa..."

Jaken grabbed the Staff of Two Heads, aimed it at the pile of wood and with a triumphant cackle proceeded to light the fire.

A few seconds later, Rin and Jaken stared at the vaporized ashes. "You always do that..."

* * *

Reviewer Responses, this time by Misty!

**Transcendent**: You've turned into a real piss ant lately haven't you? The first scene was written as two related scenes meshed together, it was meant to be intertwined to make it more interesting to read. Linear stories suck. Alma can defend herself, but I for one am not a raving wild fangirl. I'm a closet fangirl, meaning I have several attractive anime characters locked in my closet. Erm, maybe the story's Alma's baby, but it sure as hell didn't come out from between my legs. Alma primarily wrote this chapter, I just read it over...I think I'm more of a Sesshoumaru fangirl than anything else...and it's hard enough coordinating our schedules and moods to write, we're not adding a third editor into the mix. If you want to pick apart the grammar for each chapter though, feel free. Once again Vee, thank you for an extensive review that is of little to no value. You gotta stop substituting quantity for quality.

**Niamh**: I love you too dear. And you aren't a poo-head anymore, thanks to your wonderful review. Anyway, about the original stuff, I'm planning on starting a website with things like that on it. However, it's near the bottom of a very long list. Maybe after Thanksgiving I'll have something together.

**Talysmin**: If you want eccentric perverse details you have to go read Pathos, Alma's trying to teach me how to write like a normal person. However, I get to take over a bit more soon...be afraid...

Well, she just conked out on me, so I'll do the rest...

**KuraSun**: We're trying, believe me, but the thing that we hoped would make this a good story (Our very different styles of writing) is actually making it hard to write quickly, not to mention the fact that we distract each other. So we're trying, but be patient.

**rachael**: you hate us? We're so upset! It hurts our feelings, you know that? We might just go cry in a corner and never write anything ever again, and _then_ how would you feel?

**FairDrea** : well, that's why we went back and made this chapter longer. We _do_ listen to criticism, and try to act on it to improve the story as much as possible. But we're not answering any questions, you'll just have to wait and see.

**The Bloody Queen of Hearts** : you'll just have to wait and see. Tough luck, huh?

**Das Blume**: hey, as long as you're making an attempt to analyze the fic, you're on our good sides. Thing is, when Kagome was confronting her buds, Risa _is_ just standing there, because she's that kind of person. Kagome didn't even realize they was in the same class, for crying out loud! And as for Fluffy just watching, well, he was just waiting for a good moment to strike. Sometimes people _do_ just sit back and watch stuff happen.

**Shini-neko-chan**: Thank you for the complements. As for the link to Misty's profile, here it is:

http: www. fanfiction. net/ u/ 64219/ (remove the spaces)

And if for some reason that doesn't work, well, she's the only Misty on my favorites list.

Insert obligatory request for reviews/attention here.


	3. Acceptance

This chapter's a little longer to make up for the length of the last one. I'm thinking the main problem here is that Misty and I (Alma) have very different writing styles: Misty likes to write crazy people and steeps everything in huge amounts of pretty imagery and confuses the heck out of people, while I have a style that's been described as "journalistic", which is, by the way, a real word. We're hoping that once we get the hang of writing together you can get the advantages of both, but it takes some work so if it seems a little rough or a little overworked, that's probably why. Feedback, as always, is most awesome.

* * *

Kaede's hut seemed unusually cramped to Shippou the night after Kagome and Inuyasha had gone to fix Tenseiga. There was something stifling in the air that had nothing to do with the fire pit or the stew cooking over it. He knew it was rude to break the somber mood, but he couldn't help but fidget when his whole body was itching and his mind wouldn't settle. It was Sesshoumaru, he decided. The taiyoukai's ghost was lingering in the village, making sure no one rested until he had his revenge.

The rest of the group seemed relatively unaffected by the restless atmosphere. Kirara was half-asleep, curled up by the fire pit near Sango's feet. Kaede had long finished bandaging the taiji-ya's cuts and put a splint on the broken arm. Sango had busied herself with mixing herbs to make the poison powder she favored in battles for most of the afternoon, but now the mortar and pestle lay unnoticed as she stared meditatively into the flames.

The kitsune shifted positions for the hundredth time, finding the new arrangement even less comfortable than the previous. His mind kept drifting back to the freshly-dug grave in the meadow barely a ri away from the village. Was Sesshoumaru as frightening as a ghost as he had been alive? Shippou wasn't entirely sure that was possible. He flipped onto his stomach and propped his chin up on his tiny hands, facing the fire.

Miroku's eyes opened as he gave up his third attempt at meditation. He watched Sango silently for a moment, and Shippou waited for the obligatory groping. The taiji-ya didn't seem to notice, and despite all logic Miroku chose to make for the doorway, rather than Sango's rear. He watched the monk go, and stole a glance at Kaede, who glared back at him knowingly. Giving in to his itchy feet, Shippou jumped up and followed.

It was rather predictable that the monk would be checking on the grave. Shippou had to give Miroku credit, even if he didn't seem properly afraid of Sesshoumaru's ghost; he at least had enough sense to make sure his wards were secure. The kitsune chose to stay near the edge of the woods, which he deemed a safe distance. Having been a powerful taiyoukai, Sesshoumaru's body had poisoned the earth all around the hole they'd dug. It was only Miroku's houriki that granted him close access, and even then for only a brief period of time.

The monk paused in front of the grave, his hands going through the familiar motions of prayer. Minutes passed and Shippou was losing interest in spying on the monk, and was beginning to wonder if Sesshoumaru's ghost had moved on and wouldn't be appearing that night.

The kit hopped to his feet, weighing his entertainment options. Sango and Miroku were both proving to be extremely boring, and there was no Inuyasha to harass or Kagome to be spoiled by. Maybe Kirara would humor him and play a little…

His train of thought was promptly halted when Miroku stiffened and changed the grip on his staff, looking off in the distance with tense shoulders.

Shippou felt it too. Someone was coming, judging by the smell and the sounds slowly moving towards the meadow…

The kitsune didn't need any more evidence to prove that the youkai lord had indeed risen from the dead and was on his way back to have his revenge. So doing what any intelligent youkai would do, he hotfooted it back to Kaede's hut to alert Sango and Kirara…

…not to mention save his own hide. He figured Miroku would be able to hold off the specter at least until the others showed up to help. Would the Air Rip work on the undead?

By the time Shippou was halfway back to the village, the sounds coming from the woods had become voices and footsteps.

Miroku waited expectantly, straining his ears to decipher what was being said. It was clear whatever was coming wasn't very large, but that didn't make it any less dangerous. He shifted slightly as one voice became audible.

"Sesshoumaru-sama! Sesshoumaru-sama!"

The monk relaxed a bit at the grating calls. He ought to have known they would show up eventually.

"Shut up girl, he's not going to come running just because you called," a new, hoarser voice snapped.

"Sesshoumaru-sama! Sesshoumaru-sama!" the first voice continued, and the second let out a frustrated 'hmph!"

Miroku sighed, not relishing the thought of explaining Sesshoumaru's 'condition' to those two.

It would probably be best not to wait until they were in sight of the grave. As annoying as the toad was, he couldn't spring something as huge as that on him without warning, and if possible, Rin would not be informed at all.

"You, human!" Jaken exclaimed upon noticing Miroku, "You're one of those filthy mortals that hang around with that flea-bitten half breed!"

If Rin hadn't looked so concerned, Miroku would have walked away right then and there and let the frog piece it together himself. As it was, Miroku seriously considered giving Jaken a few new bruises.

Rin cleared her throat. "What Jaken-sama is trying to say," she started, "is do you know where Sesshoumaru-sama is?"

Jaken muttered something under his breath, and turned his nose up at Miroku imperiously. The fact that he was around a third of Miroku's size didn't seem to bother him in the least.

Glaring at the little amphibian gave Miroku a few moments to consider his response. "Ye-es, I'm pretty sure he came this way…"

Rin brightened. "So where did Sesshoumaru-sama go? We waited for a really long time, but Jaken-sama got bored, an…"

"What!?" Jaken squawked, "How dare you insinuate that I, Jaken, whine?"

Rin made a face at him.

"Why you insolent little…!"

Rin pulled her eyelids down with her fingers and stuck out her tongue.

"Stop making faces at me!"

"Nyah!"

Jaken turned a rather interesting shade of reddish-green while Miroku didn't bother to hide his amusement. Maybe that was why Sesshoumaru let those two follow him around.

Shit. He still had to explain about him.

A yellow-orange blur and a savage roar knocked all of them out of their thoughts. Miroku grabbed the rosary around his Wind Tunnel reflexively, ready to face the threat. When he actually saw what it was, though, he stopped.

Kirara held a struggling Jaken in her jaw, and looked more than a little confused. Sango was seated on top of her, looking around suspiciously.

"Err… Sango-sama?"

"Shippo ran into the village screaming about ghosts. Seen any?"

Miroku shook his head.

Sango sighed. "Thought so."

"Put me down!" Jaken finally managed to shout.

"Eh?" Sango dismounted with some care and leaned over to look at the squirming demon. "Drop him, Kirara."

Kirara unceremoniously dropped him in the dirt, then shrunk down to cat size and licked a paw delicately, as if to clear the taste from her mouth. She then took her place on Sango's shoulder.

Jaken sputtered. Rin giggled. Sango looked at the little girl as though she'd never seen her before. She shot Miroku a glance. Miroku shrugged helplessly.

"Rin-chan, we need to discuss something with Jaken-sama. Could you go wait for us at the village over there?" Miroku pointed, "It won't take long."

Rin looked at them oddly and Jaken straightened himself up with as much dignity as one can muster when they have just finished being verbally abused by an eight-year-old girl. He glared at the monk and demon-slayer as if daring them to comment then said stiffly, "Run along, girl."

Rin sighed, and finding no hope of concession in the eyes of the adults, obeyed. Once Rin was out of sight Jaken scowled and turned back to the humans.

"Well? What is it?" Jaken demanded, folding his arms across his chest peevishly as he did.

"Sesshoumaru was here," Miroku said in as plain a voice as he could manage, "And… perhaps it would be simplest if we showed you."

Sango nodded. Jaken muttered pointedly about stupid humans who wasted his valuable time and followed. The jyaki from Sesshoumaru's corpse became distinct before long, and Jaken sported a puzzled expression when he noticed it.

"It's… that is, he… is over there," Sango said abruptly. Miroku watched the little youkai's reaction cautiously.

"What nonsense is this? A grave? Surely you cannot expect me to believe Sesshoumaru-sama is dead! _That_ is impossible!"

Jaken spoke with such absolute confidence, puffing out his meager chest and waving his left hand dismissively, that Sango winced at the hearing of it.

Miroku shook his head solemnly. "Sesshoumaru is dead. You've been around him enough to know the feel of his youki. It's…"

"It's a trick!" Jaken exclaimed, "I don't know what idiot trap you think you can trick me with, but it will not work! No one can kill Sesshoumaru-sama!"

Sango's face contorted, and Jaken continued, "If your aim was to separate the girl from my protection, I can assure you that you will pay severely for the attempt. And," he added haughtily, "You will not escape my wrath!"

The taiji-ya groaned into her hand. Miroku sighed. "I give you my word, this is not a…"

"The very idea is preposterous!" Jaken interrupted, "Sesshoumaru-sama, killed by… what? That ugly half-breed mutt? Ha!"

"Believe what you will, but Inuyasha has beaten Sesshoumaru before," Sango interjected.

Jaken quieted, but not without a soft "humph" to voice his displeasure.

"I understand that this is hard to deal with, but…"

"Impossible…" Miroku couldn't help but notice the worried way Jaken clenched his staff between his webbed fingers. "Even at his best, Inuyasha was never capable of killing Sesshoumaru-sama!"

"It was not his strength alone that defeated Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha lost hold of Tetsusaiga while they were fighting. Kagura had been hidden in the background, waiting for an opportune moment. She shoved a handful of tainted Shikon shards into his arm and fled. Inuyasha's youkai blood and the contaminated shards overcame him and drove him mad. He nearly slaughtered us, but Sesshoumaru intervened. When he finally regained his senses and Tetsusaiga, it was too late. In-"

Jaken shook visibly. "Th-that's not true," he insisted, " I-it can't be. It-"

For the first time, Miroku felt a stab of pity for the little youkai. Jaken continued to babble, staring at the wooden grave marker. Miroku had littered the ground with ofuda in an attempt to contain Sesshoumaru's jyaki -simply purifying the corpse would be risky if Sesshoumaru was to be revived, as well as difficult to do- but Jaken seemed to take no notice of the holy wards as he stumbled towards the grave.

"Ah- hey! Don't walk into tha-"

Sango moved a little faster than Miroku did, grabbed Jaken by the collar and bringing him on level with her face.

"You might get hurt," Sango explained to the sputtering youkai. Jaken snorted in indignation.

Miroku sighed.

Jaken was resolutely refusing to look in their direction. "I don't believe you," he said simply, "Even if Sesshoumaru-sama was defeated, you could not kill him. Tenseiga would have protected him from death."

"I think it tried. After Inuyasha was brought back to normal, we discovered that Tenseiga had been cracked in half. Inuyasha and Kagome-sama left to find Totosai, in the hopes that he can repair the blade and Inuyasha can use it to reverse Sesshoumaru's death."

Jaken looked up. There were two wet patches just below his eyes that he wiped away with an abrupt gesture. "Inuyasha, wield Tenseiga? Impossible."

"I suppose we'll see when he gets back. For now, all we can do is keep the grave safe and wait for them to return. I leave it to you to decide whether or not to tell the girl."

"Rin?" Jaken said slowly, "No. Not until I know if Inuyasha really does have the ability to bring Sesshoumaru-sama back."

Sango and Miroku started to turn around. "Hey! Where do you think _you_'re going?"

Miroku turned back. "We're _going_ back to the village. It's getting dark."

For a moment, the small toad-like youkai became almost pitiable as he stood there looking very lost and alone. After all, Miroku reasoned, he'd just found out his lord and number one reason for living was murdered by his greatest enemy. It was difficult not to feel even a hint of sympathy for his plight.

So, the monk felt compelled to charitable action. "You and Rin are welcome to stay until Inuyasha returns to revive Sesshoumaru."

This seemed to pull Jaken out of his stupor. Puffing himself back up, he attempted to piece together his haughty demeanor and responded in a way that only someone who had suffered for centuries of a Napoleon Complex could.

"Well it would be the least you could do, even though the no-good hanyou bastard is going to be too weak to revive Sesshoumaru-sama, I am now the guardian of his tomb and need to perform the proper rites and mourning ceremonies. You idiot humans have already defiled it enough with your purifying trinkets. I'll just have to endure these foul human conditions in order to serve Sesshoumaru-sama well; he would have wanted that…"

Miroku felt his short-lived moment of compassion dissolve away as they walked towards the village and Jaken continued to drone on. It was a pity Inuyasha would not be returning sooner…

* * *

"_In hell, there is no place for a hanyou. Just as it is in the living world."_

That vaguely amused expression that was the closest he had ever seen his brother come to smiling…

It was amazing how good the full youkai had been at stabbing every little weakness with the utmost precision.

Inuyasha closed his eyes and tucked his chin to his chest, refolding his arms in a snugger position as he marched along. It was easy to tune out the mindless chatter of the girl behind him and the squeak, squeak of the wheels on her bike. The noises in his head were a different story.

It had been strange, the feeling of the Shikon shards inside of him, certainly not the way he'd imagined it would. Admittedly, he didn't remember much of his thoughts, just the feeling of rage, and the sight of his brother's bleeding body.

…And he remembered Sango, and Miroku…

"Inuyasha!"

He started, his eyes snapping open and a hand immediately going to Tetsusaiga. "What is it?" The hanyou was all but shaking with anticipation as his eyes moved frantically around the road and woods surrounding them.

"Did you see that bird?! I think it was a robin…" Kagome was standing on her tiptoes, shading her eyes and peering into a section of woods. "It was the prettiest color…I guess it's gone…"

Inuyasha attempted to keep himself upright. Stupid girl. "Kagome! Quit screwing around!"

Settling back into his favored posture, he slowed his steps enough to give the human time to get back on her bike. He didn't notice her silent laughter as she caught up to him.

'I couldn't resist…it's not good for him to brood.' Kagome couldn't help but feel the slightest pang of guilt though. 'It hasn't been just us for a while now…'

They were a day into their journey, and so far it had been relatively uneventful. She almost cursed the peace, because without any violent distractions, Inuyasha was even more introverted and angsty than usual. It would be a blessing in disguise to have a random youkai appear, even just a puny weak one, something to piss the hanyou off enough to forget about all his problems. It didn't even have to have a shard, or be a real challenge…

Kagome's wish was granted in a somewhat unexpected manner. Up ahead of her the sound of Inuyasha cursing, smacking his cheek, and a familiar subservient voice reached her ears.

"Oy, Myouga-jiji, what the hell are you doing here?" Inuyasha made the standard demand.

Kagome caught up to him and peered over his shoulder at the flattened flea youkai.

"My humblest apologies Inuyasha-sama, you know that I mean it as the highest compliment-" The tiny flea was cut short though by the hanyou's finger looming over him once more.

"Get to the point, old man." Inuyasha's eyes glittered dangerously.

That is, until Kagome's palm connected with the back of his head. "Inuyasha! Don't be a jerk!"

"Oy, wench! Don't tell me what to do!"

Myouga was soon forgotten as things dissolved into their usual bickering match and the old youkai was given a chance to assess the situation. It was hard to tell at first glance if the rumors that were spreading across the lands were true or not. Inuyasha certainly didn't look as though he'd recently gone berserk and murdered his own half-brother. In fact, it seemed as nothing had changed at all since the last time Myouga had visited.

"-you ugly old hag!"

"SIT!!"

Deftly the flea youkai hopped from his lord's rapidly descending head and onto the safe haven that was Kagome's fuming shoulders. No, the hanyou was most certainly exactly the same.

Myouga allowed himself a moment of peaceful happiness and banished all the dark rumors away. That is, until a glint of metal at the hip of the now flattened Inuyasha caught his little eyes.

His heart sank as he took in the sight of what was indisputably the hilt of the Tenseiga, nestled comfortably next to the Tetsusaiga as if to spite him. The sleeves of Inuyasha's haori had been pushed up as he'd taken to the dirt, exposing his forearms, and the fresh scar that only a Shikon shard could leave.

So it hadn't just been rumors.

Myouga began to prepare himself for the next few days. Things were going to be very difficult, and he could expect many squashings and much profanity. It was up to him to be strong and hold fast to his training and honor, no matter how many times his lord flattened him.

All the honor in the world couldn't stop the wails that were building up inside the little flea, and try as he might; the cries of anguish were let loose. "Oh nooooooo, nooooooo, oohhhhhhhhhhhhh…"

"Inuyasha, you call me that one more time and I swear they'll be naming a crater after yo-" The extreme amounts of angst that were oozing out of the tiny youkai finally caught Kagome's attention.

The teen cocked her head, trying to get a good look at the little man as he sat sobbing on her shoulder. Even Inuyasha looked up from his sulking and cursing under his breath.

"Myouga-san, what's wrong?" She asked with genuine concern.

He jumped. It was too late to come up with a cover, and claiming he had a rock in his sandal just didn't seem like it would fly. That left him with the truth, a very painful subject.

"Old man, you never got around to explaining what the hell you're doing here," the magic of the rosary was beginning to wear off as Inuyasha dragged himself to his feet.

"Well…that is, erm-tell me Inuyasha-sama, where are your other companions? Why is it only you and Kagome-sama are out searching for Shikon shards?" The truth could wait a bit.

"The others-" Kagome began hesitantly.

"We aren't shard hunting," Inuyasha replied shortly, and promptly began walking once more, "We're going to Totousai's."

"Totousai's?" Myouga didn't have to feign surprise. "You couldn't have broken the Tetsusaiga again-"

"Not the Tetsusaiga," He ground out, folding his arms up securely and stalking ahead.

Kagome moved to fetch her bike once more, so Myouga decided to move back to Inuyasha's head, even if it did mean compromising his safety.

"Then what business do you have at Totousai's?" he prodded.

Inuyasha visibly tensed, and Myouga couldn't help but let out a little sigh when he refrained from any violent action. "Keh." His only other response was to walk faster.

The sound of Kagome's rapid pedaling in order to catch up with the pair came closer. Panting slightly, she coasted alongside the trudging hanyou, shooting Myouga a sympathetic look.

"We're taking the Tenseiga to be repaired so Inuyasha can revive Sesshoumaru." Kagome explained, then began pedaled harder, pulling away from the youkai in a hasty exit.

"Keh!" Myouga held on tightly to Inuyasha's hair as he moved his head vehemently to the side. "Slow down, bitch, before you get lost!"

Myouga silently thanked his lucky stars that Kagome was with them. Surely she would not allow Inuyasha to kill him…

"But Sesshoumaru-sama is still dead, which means…" There was no avoiding things, he'd simply have to let it out in the open and then as quickly as he could dive into a nearby bush or tree for cover…

"Which means what?" Inuyasha growled impatiently as they caught up with Kagome once more.

"…and Inuyasha was the one who killed him…"

"Myouga-san, are you all right, you're awful red," Kagome eyed him with concern. "And what do you mean?"

"Which means-"

The hanyou's short temper was getting the better of him. "Oy, old man, get on with it!"

Like a gluttonous tick that had sucked too much blood, Myouga burst, spewing forth his important information.

"INUYASHA-SAMA IS THE NEW LORD OF THE WESTERN LANDS!"

There was nothing but silence as Kagome stopped pedaling and Inuyasha stopped walking. Slowly the hanyou plucked the flea from his hair and held him at eye-level, his index finger and thumb positioned in a very dangerous manner.

"I'm what?" He asked in a strangely level voice.

"The new lord of the Western lands!" Myouga squeaked out fearfully.

What does that mean?" Kagome asked curiously.

"It means that Inuyasha inherits all the land and duties that Sesshoumaru possessed that he inherited from their father," Myouga explained as patiently as he could with a finger about to crack his ribcage.

"What duties?" Inuyasha asked harshly. "All my asshole brother ever did was run around killing shit."

Kagome rolled her eyes.

"It was Sesshoumaru-sama's responsibility to protect his lands and all the youkai that lived there, provided that he liked them of course…"

"What do I care about a bunch of weaklings that can't even protect themselves?" Inuyasha snarled.

"But your father-"

"-I don't care what my father or my asshole brother did with their lives. I've got better things to do than sit around guarding some dirt patch from squatters."

"Inuyasha-" Kagome began reproachfully.

"-I said I don't care! And it doesn't matter anyway. We're bringing the jerk back to life and we can pretend this never even happened. Now let's go, it's getting dark."

As if to finalize matters, Inuyasha pressed his fingers together, flattening Myouga and leaving him to flit aimlessly to the ground.

Kagome sighed, and waited for the little flea youkai to pull himself together and hop on her shoulder before pedaling after the grouchy hanyou.

* * *

Reviewer responses (by Alma)

Not much this time, eh? Considering the last update was just corrections anyway, getting three is pretty good.

**Inferna**: Wow, it's been a heck of a long time since I've heard from _you_. Kind of reminds me that I was supposed to finish REIncarnation? and find it a better title.

**kakuri**: Here's that next chapter. Thanks for the encouragement and all.

**rachael**: Well, that's a load off of my mind, really. I suppose cliff-hangers can be a little frustrating, but at least they keep you interested!

Insert obligatory request for reviews/attention here.


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